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VICTORY FOR CIVIL SOCIETY?: FAMILY, ACTIVISTS ASCRIBE REMOVAL OF BAN ON VISITING JAILED PROTEST LEADER TO THEIR STRUGGLE
HUMAN RIGHTS | 15.01.14 | 16:13
Photolure
By GAYANE MKRTCHYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
The investigative body has lifted the ban to visit nationalist
"Tseghakron" party's jailed leader Shant Harutyunyan and his 13
friends, and as a result Harutyunyan's wife and son were able to see
him at the prison hospital.
Harutyunyan's wife Ruzan Badalyan says she has no clue why the ban has
been lifted and was caught by surprise, since law enforcement bodies
have not offered any explanation on the sudden "change of heart".
"I guess it is the result of our fight. At least, I believe so,"
she says.
Harutyunyna, along with 13 supporters, were taken under arrest after
the November 5 clash between the police and a group of demonstrators
on Mashtots avenue, downtown Yerevan. Late last year their custody
was extended for two more months. Harutyunyan and the others are
accused of using dangerous and non-dangerous violence against an
authority representative. Before the march of November 5, seen as
a civil rebellion attempt, Harutyunyan had gone on a sitting strike
for several days in Liberty Square with a slogan "I want a revolution".
Human rights advocate Artur Sakunts, Helsinki Citizens' Assembly
Vandazor office leader, told ArmeniaNow that the ban to visit has
been waved due to civil society demands.
"We were rightfully believing that the ban on visits had no legal
ground and that idea was in the basis of active civil involvement,
hence we were demanding annulling that illegal decision, which has
been achieved," says Sakunts.
Harutyunyan was transferred to the prison hospital after a two-week
hunger strike which led to his poor health condition; he stopped the
strike at hospital.
On January 1 his supporters held an action of protest and a march
demanding the release of the jailed activists. Earlier, on December
30, at "Barekamutyun" subway station an unidentified person used
violence against Harutyunyan's teenage son Shahen Harutyunyan, 14,
and his friends when they were distributing flyers informing of the
protest scheduled for January 1.
Human rights activists and oppositionists claim that Harutyunyan and
his friends are classical political prisoners. They view the extended
custody and ban on visits for family members as violations of human
rights, a punishment for dissidence.
Helsinki Committee of Armenia chairman Avetik Ishkhanyan, who has
visited Harutyunyan for a few times, told ArmeniaNow that "his calls
claiming they possessed petrol bottles proved to be merely rhetorical,
as no weapon was found, they were unarmed, even the wooden sticks they
had was no weapon, just symbolic, it was a peaceful march and if the
police did not interfere and refrained from violence, it would have
been a peaceful march only."
Prosecutor General Gevorg Kostanyan has stated that like any other
citizen Harutyunyan will be held liable for his actions if the court
finds him guilty.
Sakunts says imprisonment as a means of constraint applied to
Harutyunyan and his supporters has to be changes as there are no
grounds to believe either he or his friends might influence the
preliminary investigation.
"Neither should it be applied to witnesses or victims, that's absurd,
they are both witnesses and victims. Let a pledge to not leave the
city be used as a measure of restraint," he says.
http://www.armenianow.com/society/human_rights/51353/armenia_opposition_protest_shant_harutyunyan_visit s
From: A. Papazian
HUMAN RIGHTS | 15.01.14 | 16:13
Photolure
By GAYANE MKRTCHYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
The investigative body has lifted the ban to visit nationalist
"Tseghakron" party's jailed leader Shant Harutyunyan and his 13
friends, and as a result Harutyunyan's wife and son were able to see
him at the prison hospital.
Harutyunyan's wife Ruzan Badalyan says she has no clue why the ban has
been lifted and was caught by surprise, since law enforcement bodies
have not offered any explanation on the sudden "change of heart".
"I guess it is the result of our fight. At least, I believe so,"
she says.
Harutyunyna, along with 13 supporters, were taken under arrest after
the November 5 clash between the police and a group of demonstrators
on Mashtots avenue, downtown Yerevan. Late last year their custody
was extended for two more months. Harutyunyan and the others are
accused of using dangerous and non-dangerous violence against an
authority representative. Before the march of November 5, seen as
a civil rebellion attempt, Harutyunyan had gone on a sitting strike
for several days in Liberty Square with a slogan "I want a revolution".
Human rights advocate Artur Sakunts, Helsinki Citizens' Assembly
Vandazor office leader, told ArmeniaNow that the ban to visit has
been waved due to civil society demands.
"We were rightfully believing that the ban on visits had no legal
ground and that idea was in the basis of active civil involvement,
hence we were demanding annulling that illegal decision, which has
been achieved," says Sakunts.
Harutyunyan was transferred to the prison hospital after a two-week
hunger strike which led to his poor health condition; he stopped the
strike at hospital.
On January 1 his supporters held an action of protest and a march
demanding the release of the jailed activists. Earlier, on December
30, at "Barekamutyun" subway station an unidentified person used
violence against Harutyunyan's teenage son Shahen Harutyunyan, 14,
and his friends when they were distributing flyers informing of the
protest scheduled for January 1.
Human rights activists and oppositionists claim that Harutyunyan and
his friends are classical political prisoners. They view the extended
custody and ban on visits for family members as violations of human
rights, a punishment for dissidence.
Helsinki Committee of Armenia chairman Avetik Ishkhanyan, who has
visited Harutyunyan for a few times, told ArmeniaNow that "his calls
claiming they possessed petrol bottles proved to be merely rhetorical,
as no weapon was found, they were unarmed, even the wooden sticks they
had was no weapon, just symbolic, it was a peaceful march and if the
police did not interfere and refrained from violence, it would have
been a peaceful march only."
Prosecutor General Gevorg Kostanyan has stated that like any other
citizen Harutyunyan will be held liable for his actions if the court
finds him guilty.
Sakunts says imprisonment as a means of constraint applied to
Harutyunyan and his supporters has to be changes as there are no
grounds to believe either he or his friends might influence the
preliminary investigation.
"Neither should it be applied to witnesses or victims, that's absurd,
they are both witnesses and victims. Let a pledge to not leave the
city be used as a measure of restraint," he says.
http://www.armenianow.com/society/human_rights/51353/armenia_opposition_protest_shant_harutyunyan_visit s
From: A. Papazian